Why does WISN-TV competitor find 'Dancing With the Stars' newsworthy?

A long time ago at a newspaper far, far away, an editor told me that if an event wasn't in our paper, it didn't occur.

Translation: Tend to your own knitting. We don't care about or follow up on what our competitors write. That was then. Now, everybody covers everything, everywhere, all the time. And that includes "Dancing With the Stars."

It may be the intellectual property of ABC and air locally on WISN-TV (Channel 12), but once "DWTS" airs it, it becomes public domain and fair game for comment, opinion and criticism by fans, followers and anyone with a blog (like me!) or a Twitter account.

Added to this is a sense that the Green Bay Packers are community property. Which is one reason NBC affiliate WTMJ-TV (Channel 4) covers the show, and the team's wide receiver Donald Driver's appearance on it, during its Monday and Tuesday newscasts.

On Monday nights, former Packer Ahman Green analyzes Driver's performance, and on Tuesday mornings, Packers announcer Wayne Larrivee is forced to learn the same dance.

WTMJ-TV's promos ask viewers to switch the channel after "DWTS" to watch its coverage and even include a little mirror ball, made in the mirror image of the show's grand prize.

WISN-TV countered by forcing its morning news team to be part of a seven-week, on-air dance competition, whose prize is a replica of the "DWTS" mirror ball.

As stations expand the air time spent on local news, they have also expanded the definition of what is newsworthy to include the local contestants on so-called reality shows airing on their networks. See WITI-TV (Channel 6), "American Idol" and Danny Gokey.

But a local station covering a show that airs on a competing station's prime-time lineup?

Well, that may be unprecedented.

Local sports station WAUK-AM (540) does something similar by urging fans of local sports coverage to switch to their stations for analysis after a Packers or Milwaukee Brewers game airs on WTMJ-AM (620).

But the poke-the-bear nature of WTMJ-TV's coverage must infuriate WISN-TV.

"DWTS" is one of the top-rated shows on television, and if Driver's run on "DWTS" continues through May, and the show's audience sticks around for WISN-TV's 10 p.m. news, it could help the station earn another sweeps month ratings victory.

Is this really an advantage? Must be, since WTMJ-TV's "DWTS" coverage is intended to blunt it. Because all's fair in love of the Packers and the news ratings war.

About Duane Dudek

Duane Dudek is a reporter and columnist covering radio and television. He also reviews movies.